As is well known, it is highly desirable to be able to detect in a reliable manner whether or not certain microorganisms are present in body cavities.
Conventionally, the detection of the presence or absence of suspected microorganisms is carried out by way of removing a specimen of a body fluid which is suspected of having certain microorganisms therein from a body cavity to the exterior thereof where the specimen is placed on a suitable growth medium and cultured so as to be able to indicate the presence or absence of microorganisms.
Such procedures are highly unreliable for a number of different reasons such as, for example, the fact that the microorganisms are grown under conditions completely different from those prevailing in the body cavity and also the fact that the microorganisms are transferred through atmospheres which are highly deleterious to the microorganisms so that certain microorganisms will not be capable of reliable growth out of the environment in the body where these microorganisms naturally occur.
In order to avoid drawbacks of the above type it has already been proposed to situate in a body cavity an absorbent medium which will receive body fluids with suspected microorganisms therein for the purpose of placing the microorganisms at least temporarily while in the body cavity in engagement with a suitable nutrient.
However, procedures of this latter type also have inherent drawbacks in that great care must be exercised to make certain that devices of the above type do not remain in the cavity of the body for an excessively long time. In other words one-way travel of the microorganisms to the nutrient must be assured, and the only way to assure such a procedure is to make certain that the device is removed from the body cavity only after a relatively short time during which it is certain that the microorganisms have not had an opportunity to multiply to such an extent that they will have a deleterious effect on the body while the devices remain in the body.
In addition to the above drawback of the necessity of removing the device within a given time interval, there is the drawback resulting from the fact that this time interval may not be sufficient for suitable cultures to be grown directly in the body, so that growth of the cultures must be continued outside of the body, and this latter requirement of course represents certain inconveniences.
Furthermore, even with these devices which remain in the body cavity it is possible to assume that a suitable sample has been absorbed by the device whereas actually a sample has not been taken into the device, so that a false negative indication may result.
Also, with devices of the above type it is often difficult to determine visually whether or not certain microorganisms are present.